GUNTERSVILLE LAKE
By Reed Montgomery / Reeds Guide Service (205) 663-1504
Birmingham, Al.
Website www.fishingalabama.com
"Guntersville Lake's and All of Alabama's Oldest, Professional -- Bass Fishing Only -- Guide Service For Over 40 Years"
Impounded 1939
Lake Level: Down 1 foot
Water Temperature: 89 dawn / 93 evening
Air Temperature: 78 dawn / 96 evening
Water Clarity: Clear
AIRPORT MARINE'S GUNTERSVILLE LAKE TOURNAMENT
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20 2011
Over 100 anglers converged on Alabama's largest, man made impoundment Guntersville Lake, on a very hot summer day, Saturday, August 20 of 2011. They were all there in hopes of taking home the first place prize money of $2000 or at least earn a well deserved payday while maybe making the top ten pay outs. All for fishing during some tough, grueling summertime conditions.
This is a very popular bass tournament trail provided by Airport Marine of Clanton, Alabama.( For more info See: www.airportmarinetrails.com for results and pictures).
Each and every tournament on this tournament trail is very hard to win. Each tournament always features some of Alabama's best bass anglers, both some of which are professional anglers and some very stiff competition, provided by some very seasonal local anglers as well. Even with close to 120 anglers and these tough conditions, it still took close to 15 pounds to get in the money, which was paid up to 10th place.
* On this lake with a largemouth bass length limit of 15 inches, that's five - fifteen inch long bass, weighing 15 pounds or better.
After interviewing the eventual winners (that took first place with five nice bass weighing a little over 23 pounds), I discovered that they caught most of their bass in 7-8 feet of water on jig combos. Both of these very happy anglers said they did catch a lot of bass, and they had very little company while fishing the places they choose, down the lake from Goosepond boat launch in North Sauty Creek.
* Second place had 5 bass weighing real close to 21 pounds.
* Big bass was a 7 1/2 pound beauty, that well "over took" several anxious anglers hopes --- of that $500 one bass payday -- with most of them weighing in "previous possible big bass" with weights around the 5 - 5 1/2 pound range. Including us.
So how did we do?
OUR DAY
Taking 8 th place with five bass weighing 16 pounds, we luckily squeezed in the top ten and my partner Terry Davidson and myself both took home $150 each, for our hard earned efforts that day. With an entry fee of $160, about $60 dollars worth of gas, outboard motor oil, eating breakfast and having a hamburger that evening, plus water, drinks, snacks, ice, boat launch fees and fishing tackle...I would say we broke even. But still, we came out much better than over 100 other anglers, all that went home empty handed!
In all that day together we caught 15 bass culling some smaller bass. We had about 20 strikes! Every bass we caught came on two hook, hollow-bodied frogs. Some bites we got that day, we had to throw at one particular spot over and over again and we had to fish those enticing little frogs very, very slow to even get bit. We also discovered (as always) it pays to go back!
* Meaning; There are some bass, for some reason or another, even when you do eventually entice them to strike usually out of anger, curiosity or just plain hunger...you will sometimes miss hooking them and successfully landing them. Or they may just suddenly come un-hooked, with you not really sticking them in the process. These are bass that will always bite again, after you let them settle down and then return again later for another try.
We did, on two occasions. Marking with memory, exactly where we had lost several bass, and then retuning again in only 30 minutes we managed to boat two of our five keeper bass that day. Two very important bass that helped get us a check that day. Also two bass we never would have seen hit our frog imitations again, if we had not returned to the exact spot we had enticed them to hit our lures before. So as said, "it pays to go back!"
NOTE - Some bass we caught Saturday were in 6 inches of water! The rest of the bunch, the deeper bass, were in 12-24 inches of water! How? On such a hot, summer day? Simple. Heres' how and why.
Although there were very evident prey every where we fished, such as thousands of minnows and plenty of schools of threadfin shad, we also saw bream, smaller bass, and hundreds of big, gizzard shad. All, "big bass meals" in some very shallow water, but not just any water.
On Guntersville Lake, especially as summer draws to an end, there are lots of accumulated weeds, and very scummy-looking weeds, and some seemingly almost impenetrable aquatic weeds, such as hydrilla and millfoil both very stringy-type weeds. The kind we fished all day.
Your lure choice is also very limited in these types of fishing situations. Why? Because almost every lure you fish, it seems to come back with a green glob of scummy mess hanging off of it, something no bass will strike, unless its on a strict, saled green diet!
So your lures have to look real, act real when you retrieve them, and they need to come back every time with no weeds hanging off of them or the end results...you get no strikes. Its that simple. So we choose to fish with fake frogs and we had a very fun time fooling Guntersville lake's very shallow bass in the process!
* NOTE - The results, winners names, participants and pictures of this Airport Marine Tournament are posted at www.airportmarinetrails.com
* GUIDE SERVICE - WWW.FISHINGALABAMA.COM (Also updated lake reports, fishing tips for all lakes in all seasons, links, pictures, articles and more!)
Always call on Reeds Guide Service...first! "Guntersville Lake's and All of Alabama's, Oldest, Professional -- Bass Fishing Only -- Guide Service For Over 40 Years"
Be very careful when boating on our very crowded lakes this summer! Only one more month until Fall!
Guide Service Reservations Available! - Call (205) 663-1504 or e-mail me alabassgyd@aol.com to reserve your guided fishing trip for fall and winter to any lake in Alabama, today!
Thanks and Good Fishin'
Reed Montgomery / Outdoor Writer
Owner / Reeds Guide Service
Alabaster, Alabama (205) 663-1504
E-mail: alabassgyd@aol.com
Website: http://www.fishingalabama.com
" Over 40 Years Guiding, Fishing and Exploring Every Lake in Alabama For Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass and Striped Bass "
Always Call on Reeds Guide Service...first!
Alabama's Oldest Professional, Freshwater Fishing Guide Service!
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